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Log Lane Village water bills hit with late fees

Some on-time May payments put in system after deadline; town may wipe out resulting fees

By Jenni Grubbs

Times Staff Writer

Posted:
06/06/2016 02:30:42 AM MDT

While it is not unusual for Log Lane Village to have some residents make late payments on their water/sewer bills and then get late fees automatically added, there were many more such occurrences in May than there should have been.

Part of the problem was that the payments made on the day of the deadline — May 15 — were put in the computer system too late by either the former town clerk or assistant clerk, according to Town Manager Teryl Wessels. The payments were entered at around 2:30 p.m. on May 16, or at least 30 minutes too late. That meant that the system recorded them as late payments and automatically added the resulting late fees to these accounts.

But that was not necessarily the case for every account that had late fees, so Wessels sought direction from the Log Lane Board of Trustees at the regular work session Wednesday night on what to do about it.

The trustees discussed this some, indicating it may be matter of wiping out any late fees added that day or maybe going through each account and trying to sort it out completely, but they were not sure yet Wednesday night what would be the best option.

Regardless, they directed Wessels to put this issue and potential action on wiping out related late fees about it on next week's regular meeting agenda.

The board also discussed a resident's claim that she had been making cash payments on fines and fees owed to the town but was never given a receipt for them and now the payments were not reflected on her town account.

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Wessels told the board the resident had told her that former Town Clerk Kim Alva had "refused to give her a receipt until she was paid in full."

But this resident did have witnesses to back up that she had made the payments, Wessels said.

Several board members reported hearing similar stories of other residents not being given receipts for cash payments on town fines or fees in the past.

"I think a lot of this went on," Trustee Robin Mastin said. "You guys have no idea how intimidating Kim was to some of these customers."

"This is where we need that internal audit," Trustee Michael Carlson said.

Other discussions

Also at the work session:

• The board conducted an interview with an applicant for the town clerk position during the work session. Marty Dasovich told the board he is a Log Lane resident with multiple degrees and 25-plus years of experience in accounting and auditing. He also said he was willing to work for the salary level the town was offering, although he would ask to have Fridays off during tax season so he could continue his business in Log Lane and Sidney, Nebraska.

• Discussed the possible partnership with Nature's Herbs & Wellness Center II and Morgan County on the grading of Second Street; something about this could be on next Thursday's agenda.

• Discussed possibly contracting with Wolf Waste to provide trash service for the whole town and adding the charge to water/sewer bills; the board directed Wessels to put this on the agenda for next week's regular meeting.

• Discussed switching town street lights to LED bulbs and directed Maintenance Supervisor James Wessels to get pricing information for the switch and how much it could save the town in electric costs.

• Discussed what to do about dead trees on people's properties that could fall down and be dangerous; the board likely will look into this more and then could direct Town Attorney Carmen Beery to draft an ordinance about it.

• Discussed senior discounts on water/sewer bills and reiterated that it was $5 off of each for age 65 and older, although there was some confusion over whether it was for the property owner or the resident; this could be clarified at the regular meeting.

• Discussed seeking out and adding a part-time seasonal maintenance employee to help with mowing the parks and various other tasks; the board could act next Thursday on advertising for applications for such a position.

• Discussed what to do about mosquitoes this summer, with Wessels proposing getting more of the same chemicals for spraying as in the past but adding soap and coconut oil to make the smell not as bad; the board would need to approve the purchase of the chemicals for spraying.

• Discussed whether it would work to stick with Caselle as the town's financial software and cancel the contract to switch to a new program; the board directed Wessels to look into this more.

The board will hold its next regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 9, at Town Hall.

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